Artificial intelligence is on the rise - across all industries. For this reason, the three specialist media Computer&AUTOMATION, Elektronik and Elektronik automotive have joined forces and created the Artificial Intelligence Forum. For several years now, they have been presenting an up-to-date picture of developments and trends in artificial intelligence in the fields of industry, automotive and embedded applications at the conference.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Artificial Intelligence Forum was held as a purely virtual event for the first time. Around 150 participants followed the top-class program from their computers. In addition to Reinhard Karger from DFKI and Prof. Dr. Christoph Lütge from TU Munich, keynote speakers included Dr. Steven Peters from Mercedes-Benz and Ramine Roane from Xilinx.

AI and the human being

Reinhard Karger kicked things off with his keynote speech "AI + human = unbeatable together!", in which he compared and categorized various definitions of AI: artificial intelligence (AI) is the attempt to have computers perform services for which humans need intelligence. The aim is to offer people physical or cognitive assistance functions. Current AI applications enable diagnostic support for doctors, more efficient processes in companies, relief from monotonous work routines, new forms of mobility, new services and business models, new consumer electronic products. The focus is now on specific questions and goals that SMEs can address and on concrete solutions to help them achieve these with AI.

However, people themselves must not be forgotten. Prof. Dr. Lütge from the Technical University of Munich explained in his keynote speech "Ethics in Artificial Intelligence" that artificial intelligence has the potential to improve the lives of many people in the long term, be it in healthcare, autonomous driving, big data applications and much more. But it needs clear rules in order to realize this potential. These rules should not just be legal regulations; above all, ethical guidelines are needed to address widespread fears.

Prof. Dr. Marco Huber from Fraunhofer IPA also addressed the issue of addressing fears in his presentation "Cognitive production systems: machine learning in industrial applications". In one slide, he showed how artificial intelligence has shaped people's image of the technology in the media. There are positive examples that give hope - including the druids R2-D2 and C3-PO from the Star Wars series - but also raise fears, such as the film iRobot, in which an artificial intelligence takes over. Employees in industry fear that artificial intelligence will make them redundant and cause them to lose their jobs. It is therefore important to always bring people on board when using machine learning technologies in production. He then outlined the basic methods of machine learning in the production environment.

The "AI in the factory" session was followed by further presentations on the possible applications of artificial intelligence in the production environment. In addition to methodological knowledge, for example on anomaly detection, the speakers also looked at specific application examples such as AI in drive technology - from the process to the configuration. They also provided an outlook on future trends and developments and how companies can implement machine learning in their company.

Further virtual events in planning

Following the successful premiere of the virtual Artificial Intelligence Forum, further events will follow in this format. In addition to the virtual trade fair Computer&AUTOMATION wold & conference, the Safety & Security Forum will also take place virtually from June 23 to 24, 2020. Further information can be found here.